Chan Man-cheong was born in 1932 in Mianhu, Jieyang, Guangdong. He learned to sing Chaozhou opera in his home village and moved to Hong Kong in the 1950s. He began in film providing musical accompaniment, playing the gongs and drums for Chaozhou-dialect pictures that were dubbed. In 1960 the producer Hui Kin of Tung Shan Film Company recognised his rare 'phlegm-fire' clown's voice and invited him in front of the camera to specialise in comic roles. His first film was The Lotus-Fragrance Shoes (1960), on which he also provided music. Over the next two years he appeared in more than twenty of Tung Shan's releases, and in 1961 he also acted in Ha Fan's Longjing Ferry and Di Qing Storms the Wanhua Tower. As Tung Shan's output declined after 1963 he worked for other companies. He excelled as a villain, playing a greedy brother in The Story of Splashed Water (1962), an insidious schemer in Wangjiang Pavilion (1962) and a hen-pecked official in Borrowed Matchmaking (1963), yet he was equally praised for honest, simple characters such as the street-crying stepson in Lan Jizi Cries in the Street (1961) and a kindly merchant in The Woodshed Meeting (1966). In 1964 he appeared in Ha Fan's films and toured Thailand, Singapore and Malaya for a year. After the Chaozhou-film boom faded he kept performing on the Chaozhou opera stage, touring Southeast Asia and the United States, and he was one of the few Tung Shan performers to sustain a long stage career. He lived in Hong Kong in later years and died there on 4 February 2013.
Famous for the rough 'phlegm-fire' voice of Chaozhou comic roles, Chan Man-cheong played villains in films such as The Story of Splashed Water while also giving warm portrayals of ordinary people, showing the range of the Chaozhou clown tradition. When the dialect-film boom faded he kept performing on the Chaozhou opera stage, touring Southeast Asia and the United States, one of the few Tung Shan performers to sustain a long stage career.
Achievements
- 1960 · Appeared in his first film, The Lotus-Fragrance Shoes, while also providing musical accompaniment.
- 1964 · Toured Thailand, Singapore and Malaya for a year with Ha Fan and fellow actors Cheng Chun-ying and Chau Lok.
- 1966 · Played a kindly merchant in The Woodshed Meeting, praised for his singing and acting.